DISH with Maribeth Maloney
Q&A with Dan Silverman Executive Chef Lever House, NewYork City

Maribeth Maloney: When Lever House - the building, that is - was unveiled in Manhattan in 1952, it was referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World: a seminal work of Modernist architecture that redefined not only Park Avenue, but corporate architecture,

i.e., no small potatoes. In 2003, when you were asked to head up the kitchen of the first restaurant ever housed within the landmark, was hyperventilation on the top of your to-do list?

Dan Silverman: Surprisingly not. My to-do list had slightly more useful items on it, like finding a few good cooks to work for me and figuring out how to make my menu work in a brand new kitchen with a brand new staff. Now that I think about it, if I'd had a moment to step back and look at what was going on, I might have started hyperventilating…

MM: International design star, Marc Newson, cast his imprint on the $5 million restaurant with his striking, signature, retro-futuristic style. Is it a challenge to create menus for a space with so much "James Bond meets The Jetsons" personality?

Don't miss Chef Silverman at The White Elaphant's "Chef & Shop" Series, Nov. 2-4.

DS: I made a conscious decision early on that I wouldn't even try to compete with Marc's great design and I think that decision, and the room, have

withstood the test of time.

MM: Indeed. Besides, a tangle between 007 and Elroy might not look so good on a plate.

MM: William Grimes of The New York Times has said you "let the ingredients do the talking," adding that rather than competing with the design, you stick to "clean New American style that makes sense, given the location." How do you define New

American style?

DS: New American food is just about anything you'd like it to be. America is a melting pot, after all. My tastes these days focus on bright, sunny and acidic. My cooks and the managers at the restaurant are always amazed and a bit shocked whenever I find a great new olive oil or vinegar - I taste them right from the bottle!

MM: You've been dubbed the master of the New York power lunch. Suppose I'm the head honcho of a Fortune 500 and I'm taking my right-hand man out to announce his promotion. What menu selections would you make for us?

DS: You make decisions all day, so you decide. Order from the menu or let me cook for you. Special requests are no problem. If the product is in the house, we'll cook it.

MM: Fabulous! My fictitious right-hand man quite enjoyed our pretend lunch. But life comes at you fast: It's a week later, we're back, and I'm canning him. Menu suggestions?

DS: Maybe just an appetizer? MM: Maybe just a swig of that vinegar right from the bottle?

MM: You graduated from Vassar College with a degree in English Literature and were en route to a career in book publishing. What inspired you to bang a U-ey and enroll at Manhattan's French Culinary Institute?

DS: I like to cook and I didn't enjoy publishing. It was a pretty simple choice.

MM: What's the most crucial lesson you learned in culinary school?

DS: I learned there was a lot I didn't know.

MM: Your resume is stellar. You spent several years at Bouley, David Bouley's TriBeCa stalwart, trained in France at Michelin-starred restaurants and worked in San Francisco at Zuni Café, Postrio and Chez Panisse, Alice Water's icon of greenmarketinspired cuisine. Back in NYC, you rose to national acclaim as Executive Chef at Alison on Dominick, earning the coveted title of one of the country's "Ten Best New Chefs" from Food & Wine magazine in 1997. Alison (which is now closed) was hands-down one of the city's most romantic restaurants. Did you set out to make romantic food or do you think even flapjacks would've done the trick in that setting?

DS: I think well-prepared food of any sort is pretty sexy.

MM: Bring on the flapjacks.

MM: After Alison, you were spirited away by Danny Meyer, one of Manhattan's most respected and prolific restaurateurs, to take over as Executive Chef at Union Square Café. Whose job would you say is more stressful - the chef's, the restaurateur's, or is it a tie?

DS: We're all in it together. I couldn't do my job without a great front-of-the-house staff, and there'd be no restaurant without a chef in the kitchen.

MM: True. At the bare minimum you'd need a cartoon rat named Rémy.

MM: You're no stranger to ratings and reviews. During your four-year chefdom at Union Square Café, the restaurant was consistently voted #1 Most Popular in the Zagat Survey. And then there's the Michelin Guide; Lever House is one of the small handful of NYC restaurants to have been recognized. How significant are ratings you to?

DS: It all comes down to consistency. Michelin took our star away this year and we're going to work very hard to get it back next year. The reality is you go in every day and do what you do. As long as you try and make today's food a little better than yesterday's, today's service a bit crisper than the day before, you're on the right road.

MM: The Michelin folks have been accused of not understanding Manhattan restaurants, the primary criticism being that they've made the mistake of not realizing that many restaurants - which may at first blush seem casual - are dead serious about their food and their standards of service. What say you, s'il vous plait?

DS: Good food is good food. Who's to say that a hole-in-the-wall noodle joint or Thai restaurant way out in the boroughs isn't as good in its own way as Per Se or Le Bernardin?

MM: Pas moi.

MM: Here's a hot little nugget I dug up in my Food & Wine archives: "When I met [him] on a blind date, his hands were greenish from chopping herbs, and he had all these little cuts and burns. I thought it was so sexy…When I saw him in his whites, I thought, 'Eating this amazing food cooked by this very, very cool guy - oh my God, it's foreplay.'" Care to share who said that about you?

DS: My amazing wife. MM: I take it she's had the flapjacks.

MM: What's hidden in your sock drawer?

DS: Socks.

MM: Not buying it.

MM: What would your kitchen staff say they most admire about you?

DS: My generally calm demeanor.

MM: What would they say they most dislike about you?

DS: That I'm right - even when I'm not.

MM: Do you agree? DS: No comment.

MM: Not buying it.

MM: Your Lever House Cookbook is not only wonderfully written, it's gorgeous; I'd like to eat the pages. Which one should I start with?

DS: Eating the pages? Too much fiber for me!

MM: Right. I'll have a side of the Table of Contents.

MM: Is there any ingredient that rattles your sensibilities so much that you'd never cook with it?

DS: Not so much, actually. I enjoy working with new ingredients. Sometimes though, I have a hard time incorporating Asian ingredients into my dishes, which is all right…there are other chefs who like them more than I do, and have a hard time with some of the ingredients I like.

MM: Huh? I'm still digesting that answer.

MM: What do you have in store for the crowd at The White Elephant this weekend?

DS: Good grub!

MM: Are you planning to kick back during your free time or will you be turning the island on its ear?

DS: I'm planning to relax with my wife, take a walk on the beach, drink a bottle of wine and try to eat as many Nantucket Bay Scallops as I can; they're like candy.

MM: They sure are. But do me and your amazing wife a favor before you pack - have another look

around that sock drawer. I